City lavish cash for Guardiola mission
Khaldoon al-mubarak yesterday said Manchester City had no cause to celebrate Pep Guardiola’s “disappointing” first season as manager but expressed “high confidence” that the manager will deliver.
The City chairman also promised to lavish Guardiola with the funds to “complete the puzzle” this summer after admitting that the squad were lacking in key areas, and ruled out any possibility of Sergio Agüero leaving.
Ederson Moraes underwent a medical at City yesterday as the Benfica goalkeeper prepares to become the Manchester club’s second signing of the summer, following the £43.6 million recruitment of Portugal playmaker Bernardo Silva from Monaco last week.
Ederson will cost City a Britishrecord £34.7million fee for a goalkeeper, but a formal announcement will not be made until issues are resolved around the player’s thirdparty ownership with Benfica, his former club Rio Ave, and Jorge Mendes’s Gestifute agency.
Guardiola is likely to sign at least six players this summer, with the full-backs Benjamin Mendy, of Monaco, and Kyle Walker of Tottenham, plus Juventus centre-half Leonardo Bonucci and Arsenal forward Alexis Sánchez among his leading targets.
Despite Guardiola not winning any silverware and his side being eliminated in the Champions League round of 16, Al-mubarak is confident the team are making strides, even if he has told people there was no reason to celebrate third place in the league.
“There’s nothing that annoys me more than people either calling me or sending me a message congratulating me on third place,” the City chairman said in an interview with the club’s official website. “My answer was pretty standard to everyone, ‘Don’t congratulate me on getting third, there’s nothing to congratulate, only congratulate me if we win the league’.
“In a normal circumstance, ending the season without a trophy would be a very disappointing season, but it’s not, it really isn’t. We are a team now that expects to win every year at least one trophy. So from that perspective the season has been a disappointment, but if you look at it from a different lens we are truly going in a direction that is positive. I am very excited about how we are developing as a team.”
Al-mubarak admitted that signing a right-back and left-back was a “high priority” and that Guardiola “relies heavily on that position”.
Agüero’s future has been under much scrutiny but, asked if the Argentina striker would be staying, the City chairman said: “Absolutely. Sergio Agüero is one of the best players in the world. Having Sergio as part of the squad is an absolute must. It has never been in doubt.”
Al-mubarak said Pablo Zabaleta will be offered a role at City when his playing career is over, and has intimated that he could even become the club’s manager in the future. Zabaleta has just left City after nine years to join West Ham.